let me keep you from the rest of your day,” Skye said, dismissing her as she walked toward her son’s room. “I know Belleni keeps you busy with all your responsibilities.”
Vivian smiled and grabbed her purse, saying as she opened the door, “Enjoy your day with your son, Skye D’Lane. Perhaps the memory of it will ease your heartache when he’s gone. But remember there are eyes in the city. Don’t think of running off or else you will find yourself scratched out of Nico’s life forever.”
The door slammed and Skye flinched. Vivian didn’t make idle threats. The woman was a socio-path draped in a socialite’s body. Vivian didn’t seem to understand or possess anything remotely close to human compassion. She wasn’t moved by tears, pleas or heartache. And she seemed to hate children. Or maybe it was just Nico. Another reason Skye wanted Nico out of Belleni’s house.
She’d long suspected that Vivian hated her but she’d never figured out why. After she’d become pregnant, she’d realized the true depth of Vivian’s aversion as it was reflected in all its purity when she looked at Nico with something between revulsion and fascination. Skye found it extremely unsettling that Belleni had sent Vivian to play nursemaid when there were plenty of other women in his employ who could’ve fit the criteria.
Nico appeared, a darling angel with a shock of dark hair and deep-set blue eyes the color of diamond-cut sapphires, wearing a hopeful expression that buoyed her as much as it broke her heart that he was being raised in such an environment, and she longed to scoop him into her arms but her protesting rib prevented it. She wiped at her eyes and then pressed a kiss to his forehead. “It’s a lovely day, sweetheart. Are you ready for the park?” she asked.
Nico nodded but his gaze went to the door where Vivian had left. “Do I have to go back?” he asked in a small voice. Vivian scared Nico and it renewed Skye’s ire that Belleni insisted Vivian be the one to shuttle Nico to the apartment for visits.
“Yes. For now,” she answered, wishing things were different. Perhaps, a house will fall on the big, bad witch and at least one half of her misery would disappear. “But she’s gone, at least for today,” she said with bright cheerfulness. “Ready to have some fun just you and me at the park?”
Nico nodded and smiled up at her, his fears dropping away. “Can we get hot dogs?”
“Of course. A trip to the park isn’t complete without a hot dog with lots of ketchup and mustard, right?”
“Right!”
She carefully wound a warm, woolen scarf around his neck and grabbed his mittens and deliberately pushed aside the knot of fear lodged in her belly for the repercussions that were surely coming for her disrespect. She was going to have a great day with Nico and that’s all she was going to think about. Period. “Let’s hit it, little man,” she announced with a smile. “We’ve got a whole lot of fun to do before the day is done.”
That’s right. Fun, damn it.
And she’d mow over anyone who tried to get in their way.
LITTLE LEAGUE TRYOUTS were finished and Mathias and Christian were both starved so they headed for the hot dog vendor that was smart enough to hang around the park during the tryouts. It was there Christian saw her again.
The brisk air had put hearty roses in her cheeks and pinked the tip of her nose but it was the million-watt, sweet smile that stopped him, sucking the air out of his lungs. The memory of her beaten and broken seemed incongruous with the image of her now. Her blond hair, tucked in a messy ponytail trailed down to the middle of her back and she was laughing with a small boy who looked to be around four years old. She wiped mustard from the corners of his mouth while he giggled.
She looked…different. Wholesome. Nothing like the woman he often saw at the bar, waiting, world-weary, jaded.
Her sunglasses hid her eyes but there was no mistaking the love she felt for the boy.
“Are we gonna get some dogs or are you gonna stare at that lady all day?” Mathias asked, annoyed that Christian had simply stopped in his tracks, obviously rattled. Mathias elbowed him. “I’m starved.”
He shook himself. “I’m not staring,” he denied to the kid who was too street-smart to buy it but Christian couldn’t admit that he’d been shocked to see the woman here, in a setting so far removed from where he usually saw her. Looking nothing like she normally did. Not to mention now the worst of the bruising had faded and while she still favored her left side, she looked like a million bucks. He glanced down at Mathias who had shaken his head as if to say “weird” and moved on ahead to get his dog. Christian slowed as he approached the vendor, coming up on her and the boy, and found himself staring harder. Questions better left unanswered crowded his brain and he couldn’t look away. Maybe he’d been all wrong about her. The possibility made him feel like an idiot. In this light it was hard to imagine her as the seductress he’d seen. Sure, the worn jeans hugged a near-perfect ass and even though she was layered in warm clothing, he could almost see the outline of firm breasts but there was nothing of the overt siren he was accustomed to seeing.
And hot damn, she was stunning.
CHAPTER FIVE
SKYE FELT EYES ON HER and just as she’d popped her finger in her mouth to suck off the mustard that had dripped from her hot dog, she locked eyes with the man who’d quite literally saved her life.
Sweeps of unruly brown hair ruffled in the breeze curling around the park, the sunlight picking up the subtle golden highlights and accentuating blue eyes that made her think of cool seaside mornings and crisp outdoor days. She pulled her finger from her mouth and looked away. What were the odds in a city crowded with people that she’d run into this man?
“Hey, lady, you’re holding up the line,” the surly hot dog vendor said, cranky and annoyed. “Keep it movin’. I ain’t standing here for my health, you know!”
She risked a short glance at the man again before clasping Nico’s hand and walking away with a murmured apology to the vendor.
“Mama? Are you okay?” Nico asked, looking up at her with a frown on his beloved face.
She smiled. “Of course, sweetheart. I was just surprised is all. I thought I knew that man from some-where but I think I was wrong. C’mon, sweetie, let’s find a spot where we can eat these dogs.”
Nico seemed content with her answer and quickly forgot as he ate his hot dog. “Mama, I love the park,” he announced, a mustard smear on his cheek that she wiped away with her napkin. “Can we come back tomorrow?”
“I don’t know…maybe,” she hedged, although an unhappy knot twisted her stomach. Belleni refused to keep to a visitation schedule, partly she was sure to keep her tethered and partly because he couldn’t be bothered with something he considered so trivial. Never mind that she lived and breathed for the opportunity to spend time with her son. Nico’s expression fell and she sighed, giving in. “If it’s not raining or snowing, perhaps Belleni wouldn’t mind,” she said, pleased when Nico grinned. Her son’s happiness meant the world to her. She’d risk whatever she had to, to lessen the effects of such an unusual living arrangement for Nico.
“And can we have another hot dog?” he asked.
“Of course,” she answered, leaning forward to kiss him on the nose. “Now, eat up, so you can ride the swings.”
She
